Dina’s time has come in District 3

When Dina Titus announced her bid for Congress last Thursday it was as if she had finally won a seven-year battle.

In politics, two weeks can be a lifetime, but the 3rd Congressional District has been in Titus's sights before it was even born.

If you flash back to 2001, back when the Legislature was attempting to set the boundaries of the newly created district, Titus emerged early as a potential top-tier candidate for the seat.

She was the Senate minority leader and everyone in Carson City that year knew Titus was jockeying with a handful of other Democrats for Harry Reid's kiss of approval.

In the same upper house chamber, a lightly-noted state senator, still regarded more as just the nice guy, former mayor of Boulder City, worked feverishly with fellow Republicans to ensure the district was drawn just right.

At the end of the 120-day legislative session, it still wasn't to his liking, so he pitched a fit until the Legislature went into overtime to address the issue of redistricting. Eventually he got the extra few thousand voters he wanted drawn into the sprawling suburban Clark County district he sought to represent.

Porter, who had already lost a congressional bid, then got the blessing of his party to run for the open seat.

But Democrats cast Titus aside. When word came down from Reid's folks that "rising star" Dario Herrera would be the party's chosen candidate for the new congressional seat, Titus thought maybe the Clark County Commission might suit her better than toiling in the minority in the state Senate.

But another Reid stepped in. Rory Reid, who at the time was best known as the state Democratic Party chairman and senator's son, announced he would be running for the commission seat.

Titus bided her time and worked for the party, building core support with her classic Bush-bashing stump speeches at conventions and rallies.

Herrera went down in flames in that election against Porter, and eventually ended up in federal prison on corruption charges.

Titus toyed with running for the 3rd District in 2004, but almost immediately backed out when former gaming executive Tom Gallagher became the party's chosen candidate.

Gallagher, tarred as a carpetbagger, fared only slightly better than Herrera.

Titus then trained her focus on the governor's mansion. But Titus lost that race and went back to leading the minority in the state Senate.

That same year, little-known first-time candidate Tessa Hafen lost by fewer than 4,000 votes to Porter.

Election night put the elder Reid into the congressional majority again in Washington, but it was still pretty disappointing for local Democrats who had worked tirelessly for Hafen and Titus.

Titus may have lost that day to Jim Gibbons, but she's clearly never forgotten the sniveling opponent from that 2001 redistricting battle.

But still smarting from the 2006 loss, Titus wasn't really ready to run for Congress. And when Reid's people sent word the candidate would be Robert Daskas, Titus turned to the task of building her Senate caucus.

Daskas, a political unknown with the right connections, suddenly withdrew from the race last week leaving Reid & Co. with little choice other than to reach out to the candidate they had already passed over three times.

The 2006 gubernatorial loss did nothing to hurt Titus within the party framework. She's still as commanding a figure as any who hops to the stage at a convention. Democrats clap when she walks by.

And even the "disenfranchised" feel she represents them. As Titus announced her entry into the 3rd District race on Thursday, rabble-rousing self-funded candidate Andrew Martin dropped out. He may have been able to muster the 10 percent of disaffected Democrats in a primary against Daskas, but Titus would have made him into the single-digit Quixotic candidate he really is.

The Republicans will do whatever it takes to protect Porter, a loyal backbencher who bides his time hoping for an accidental rise to power, a la Denny Hastert.

He's already weasled his way onto Ways and Means while sticking to the White House line on Iraq.

Maybe it's all those years she's waited. Or maybe it's her sheer political intellect, but Titus jumped into the race Thursday as none of the other Democrats before her -- Daskas included -- had.

Sure there was some of the boilerplate linking of Porter to big pharma and big oil. We've been there and done that three times now (four, if you count Daskas).

Titus, however, didn't need the focus groups or the polling to know how she was going to run this race. On Thursday she went right at Porter on the five-year anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, no less.

"He has continued to support Bush's war with no accountability, no questions and no end in sight," Titus said of Porter. "Jon, obviously you're not listening to the people of CD3. You're not helping us during these difficult times when we are struggling. You're helping people in Iraq, but not here in Nevada. That's why it's time for you to go, and when that happens in November, it will be a real mission accomplished."

As Titus already proved, no one really says it better.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.